“Undoubtedly his best novel to date. Written in a solid manner, without holes or empty spaces, with conflicted characters and without falling into stereotypes. It can be read as a coming-of-age novel, a hero’s journey novel, a period novel, a survival novel, a provincial novel, a sports novel, a memory novel. It is all of this and more. And it manages to successfully save everything it sets out to do.”

“Although the narration is simple and direct, the story in Tierra de campeones at times appears to take on the rhythm of the breath of a diver underwater: it pulses like an adventure in the moments when Chungungo is crowned champion, but it slows down during the dramatic and horrible moments until it’s submerged in mystery. It is the story of the protagonist, but at the same time it is an echo of Zúñiga’s previous novels that are also set in the North.”

“Zúñiga starts with the real story of Raúl Choque, underwater hunting world champion and Chilean legend who, according to myth, happened to discover the bodies of missing detainees at the bottom of the sea. Here, Zúñiga presents a fictional story that reads like a survival novel but also a coming-of-age one, with the makings of a sports novel that ultimately traces the hero’s journey in a magnificent memoir.”

“Diego Zúñiga is able to construct characters that are far from stereotypical, and that are instead very alive, quite unique, and able to help us open our eyes in the deep and dark waters of everyday terror...Tierra de campeones is definitively an intense work, written with language and prose that are not very common, able to wrap us in a blinding atmosphere that will inevitably leave the reader hooked on Chungungo Martínez and the other characters who traverse these pages.”

“Chilean author Diego Zúñiga’s Tierra de campeones can be classified as a great novel, and we recommend you set aside time for reading because once you start, you won’t be able to stop until you reach page 268, the final one of this novel that narrates the life of a Chilean underwater fishing world champion. Through Chungungo Martínez (inspired by Raúl Choque, the real champion in 1971), the story of a country starting in the 50s and reaching the fall of Allende unfolds. But don’t get it twisted—this isn’t a political novel (although it is political), but rather a coming-of-age novel that narrates in a way that is brutal and overwhelming. You will discover that the story is as serious as the ocean itself.”